Employment Non-Discrimination Act Moves Forward in Senate
Feature Story by Suzanne Lee - 4/25/2002
Washington, D.C.— The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which prohibits job discrimination based on sexual orientation, was reintroduced by Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Representative Christopher Shays (R-CT) in July 2001. It has been brought up for consideration every Congressional session since its introduction in 1994. And, though it has yet to be passed, its support has continued to grow stronger and more diverse.The bill was marked up April 24 by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and now heads to the Senate floor. This follows a February 27 hearing in the Committee, in which several business leaders and other witnesses testified about the anti-discrimination policies that already exist to protect gays, lesbians, and transgendered workers in privately-owned companies, and about the need for federal legislation to extend these protections to government employees.
In a press conference in the Dirksen Senate Office Building following the mark-up, Committee Chairman Senator Ted Kennedy emphasized the significance of the bill: “Today the U.S. Senate took a major step forward to freedom from…the stain of discrimination [based on sexual orientation].” Kennedy pronounced that passage is “long past due” since various legislation to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination has been pending since 1975.
Kennedy also highlighted the strong support for ENDA from religious organizations, businesses, and civil rights and labor groups. 43 Senators, both Democrats and Republicans, have already signed on to co-sponsor the anti-discrimination bill, including Senators James Jeffords (I-VT), Joe Lieberman (D-CT), and Arlen Specter (R-PA), all of whom were present at the press conference.
Wade Henderson, Executive Director for the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, stressed the broad support for ENDA. “Poll after poll demonstrates that ENDA enjoys the support of over two-thirds the American public, including a solid majority of Republican voters. In addition, ENDA has been endorsed by dozens of corporations.”
Reverend Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, the executive director of the Interfaith Alliance, said, “Our various religious traditions call us to promote the shared values of compassion and human dignity. ENDA will ensure that no one is discriminated against in the workplace, and that all employees are treated with the same respect which every human being deserves.”
In weighing the need for the bill, Senator Lieberman asserted that there were no exceptions in the claim to the right to life, liberty, and happiness. Such anti-discrimination legislation is essential “in order to secure the rights equal rights, not special privileges, under law.” Lieberman quoted former President Lyndon B. Johnson to signify the steps that need to be taken next: “We have talked long enough in this country about civil rights. It is time to write the next chapter and to write it in the books of law.”
Elizabeth Birch, the executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian and gay political organization, agreed, saying that ENDA would “make this a more unified country.” She called the bill “modest and common-sense legislation.”
Despite ENDA’s strong show of support in the Senate, its status in the House of Representatives is not assured. It has been referred to a number of House committees. And though 190 members have signed on, the general consensus is that it will be a tough battle for passage.
Still, supporters are hopeful, especially after the Senate mark-up hearing. Wade Henderson summed it up, “ENDA is simple justice.”
